Last Wednesday was our first CSA box pick up. I was so excited to see what we got from Featherstone Farm! The first week included salad greens, red butter lettuce, spinach, asparagus, radishes, and cilantro. Yum! To use up our bounty we ate a ton of salad (of course). The asparagus I roasted on Friday with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and served (with more salad) with peanut chicken satay. With the cilantro I made marinaded beef fajitas and a cilantro dressing (recipe below). With half of the radishes I made half a recipe of bread-and-butter-radishes (a refrigerator pickle). I have been using the spinach for salads, and a bit torn up here and there to add greens to cooked meals. The radish tops were a bit nibbled on by some little critter, but after cleaning them and slicing thinly, they were stir fried up with roasted garlic to add to some morning eggs. Tomorrow night we will finish off the spinach at dinner with some poppy seed dressing.

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We are big veggie eaters and I am very glad we got the big box. Our next pick up is Wednesday, which can’t come soon enough for me! This week it looks like we are getting red oakleaf lettuce, asparagus, spinach, green garlic, salad greens, dill, rhubarb, green beans, and garlic scapes. Woo!

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To bake this week: Rhubarb Strussel Muffins (double batch – freeze most for later), Blueberry Muffins (double batch – freeze most for later) and Angel Food Cake. Work some more on my gluten and dairy free croissant recipe…

To freeze this week: make and extra chicken and veggie enchilada to freeze.

Chicken (yep, free range chicken is on sale big time this week) and Veggie Enchiladas (make one/freeze one) and Spinach Salad (all salad is from our CSA box and our garden this week)

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Wednesday: Last day of school for little girl!!/Woo-hoo!/pick up CSA box

Chicken Veggie Skillet Dinner (using some spinach and the top of a green garlic from the box along with various veggies from the fridge) and a jumbo salad with blueberries (the berries are buy one get one free this week), Angel Food Cake with Strawberries

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Thursday: Half day for the big kids/dress rehersal for dance (we need a portable dinner)

Brown Sugar and Mustard Glazed Ham, Roasted Asparagus (from the box), Cantaloupe and Salad (for the girlie’s and my portable dinners the ham and cantaloupe are cubed and the asparagus is cut into easy to manage pieces so that we can eat it all with little picks)

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Friday: Last day of school for the big kids!! Woo-hoo!!?/dance recital for the girls/my big guy leaves for Boy Scout sailing trip

Broiled Fish, Two Potato Salad with Dill (the dill is from the box) and Salad

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Cilantro Dressing

1 cups fresh cilantro leaves and soft stems, washed patted dry

6 Tablespoons lime juice

6 Tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Menu Plan Monday was a bit delayed this week. Can you tell? Yep, the blog got ditched on Monday, but I swear it was for a good reason. (My menu plan for the week is at the bottom of the post.)

Monday morning I received a call asking if I could fill in to teach a gluten free class. “Great! I would love to. When?” Tuesday night. Yikes! After a bit of kid schedule rearranging (thanks to everyone who helped with that), I put together and prepped for a class in 24 hours. Woo! I think it went pretty well for such short notice, and I had a lot of fun. Plus, I made gluten and dairy free brownie ice “cream” sandwiches and they make everything better. It was a really great experience and I am hoping to work with them again. Thanks for the opportunity, Eastside Co-op! (It’s our local co-op. Check them out!)

Eastside Food Co-op is where we will be picking up our CSA box from Featherstone Farm. I am really excited about out boxes of veggie goodness that will be coming to us soon. This past weekend was the Greenhouse Open House and Field Day at the farm. We drove down to check it out. We had perfect weather for the drive down. The area the farm is in is just beautiful.

I got to meet Peggy Hanson, the writer for cookoutofthebox.blogspot.com. She is the farm’s resident cooking expert who shares cooking ideas for the contents of each week’s CSA box. So far, her posts on winter salads, cabbage rolls (with extra veggies and quinoa in the filling), and the end of winter borscht have caught my eye. I am looking forward to the future seasonal posts on the CSA shares.

Crops my kids can’t wait for:

I have major greenhouse envy…

We can’t wait to go back to the farm for the Strawberry Social in June!

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I am late, but still linking up to Laura’s Menu Plan Monday, even though it is Wednesday. I am such a rebel!

The Gluten Free Menu Swap is hosted this week by Heather of Celiac Family. She picked Picnic Foods for this week’s theme. I am hoping for some great ideas from everyone. During the school year I usually try to pack dinner for our Tuesday evening piano lesson nights. In the summer soccer games, play time at the park, zoo trips, a beach day and concerts/plays in the park all call for portable foods. Any excuse to eat outside is a good excuse!

Pickles in a blanket (Spread a slice of gluten free deli ham or smoked turkey with coconut cream “cheese” – either plain cream “cheese” or mixed with fresh herbs or finely chopped and drained veggies. You can lay a few spinach leaves or fresh basil leaves on the “cheese”. Lay a pickle wedge on one end of the cold cut and roll up. Secure roll with toothpicks and slice into 1 to 1 1/2 inch bites.)

A variety of slaws as they travel better than salad greens (Asian napa slaw, apple/bok choy/carrot slaw, sesame slaw, to name a few)

Today it is two weeks since my mom had her knee replaced. She is moving around pretty well on it. Thank you to her doctors, nurses and therapists who have helped the past couple weeks. You guys have been amazing!

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Check out Menu Plan Monday for more menu inspiration. I am hosting the Gluten Free Menu Swap this week and have picked rhubarb as the theme ingredient. If you would like to host a week of the swap, contact Cheryl at Gluten Free Goodness. She would love to hear from you!

We have a boatload of rhubarb in the garden (which explains the theme!) so I plan on baking some rhubarb strussel muffins and hopefully putting up some sort of jam this week. Last year I also canned Sunshine Rhubarb Juice Concentrate and Spring Conserve which was pretty tasty, so I may do those again. I would also like to get a batch of Victorian Barbeque Sauce put up (a rhubarb based BBQ sauce). I’ll also freeze some for later use… What do you guys do with rhubarb? Got any great ideas? Great canning recipes? Do tell! I would love to hear what they are!

Wednesday: track meet/dance class for younger daughter/final youth group meeting of the year

-I am making a commitment to cook 2 times a week from other blogs I love or from the embarrassing number of cookbooks I own… Wish me luck! This is on Wendy’s menu - that’s good enough of a recommendation for me! Spicy Chicken with veggies over rice from Artisanal Gluten-Free Cookbook. I got this cookbook at the Gluten Free Culinary Summit this past October. I got to meet the writers, a really nice couple who’s blog is No Gluten, No Problem.

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Thursday: track practice/newspaper club/Cadette Girl Scout meeting

-I am making a commitment to cook 2 times a week from other blogs I love or from the embarrassing number of cookbooks I own… Wish me luck! Braised Chicken with Shallotsfrom Fresh Flavor Fast (adapted to be gluten free and made in the slow cooker) with mixed green salad.

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Friday: Sleep over for the older daughter

-Gluten and dairy free lasagna and a salad (make a second lasagna one to freeze for another day)

Heather at Celiac Family is heading into the busy spring time schedule. This is making her look toward lighter and quick meals for her family. Her menu looks delicious with Baked Salmon, Cilantro Lime Shrimp, Beef &amp; Veggie Kabobs and Chicken wit Mango-Heather will be hosting the menu swap next week with a picnic food theme. I am looking forward to that, as I am always on the lookout for portable meals with soccer and summer schedules coming up.

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Wendy at Celiacs in the House has play-by-play photos of a great gluten free paper mache viking helmet for PROM! I LOVE it! She also shares about having a GF meal at prom, which gives me hope for my kiddos at prom someday (okay, I don’t want to think of them going to prom just yet (gulp!) BUT yay for GF food hope!). She has Mexican Lasagna, Tofu Stir-Fry, Barbeque Beef and Beans, Spicy Chicken, and a pizza night planned. For her rhubarb recipe she will be making Jamie Oliver Rhubarb Souffles. Thanks for the rhubarb link to check out, Wendy!

Cheryl at Gluten Free Goodness eats her rhubarb most often made into a compote with pineapple or apple (she says it freezes well, too). Yum! She has all sorts of great things growing in her garden, so spring must have sprung in her neck of the woods! Her menu includes chicken in parsley sauce, quinoa Italiana, and lentil dal with roasted cauliflower. She has a link to amazing looking gluten free, yeast free, egg free cinnamon rolls (she might be making them dairy free this week too!) from Cinnamon Quill that I just have to try.

We have a new gluten free menu and blog to check out this week from Renee at Beyond Rice and Tofu. Her blog is gluten free and vegetarian and was started in April. It’s always so exciting to find other GF bloggers! She has a great post called “Where’s the Protein?” and a Thai Tomato Soup you need to check out. One her menu this week are Red Beans and Rice, Stir-Fried Tofu with Bok Choy, Greek Lentils and Pasta, and Egg Noodles with Vegetables. Yum! Thanks for joining us, Renee!

I am quite excited to be hosting the Gluten Free Menu Swap this week. The theme this week is coconut, so join in with your favorite coconut love!

We do like our coconut around here. We use it as a replacement for heavy cream (think whipped topping for pie, and in ice “cream”), coconut yogurt, and coconut “cream cheese“. I have even made dairy free cream cheese cake pops from the coconut cream cheese. I also like to use the coconut water for making coconut water kefir, and as a natural sports drink. I use the oil for cooking when I am doing high temperature cooking and as a shortening replacement (replace shortening with 1/3rd to 1/4th less coconut oil than the amount of shortening called for in the recipe). All in all coconut is one amazing food that can be used for sweet and savory dishes, lends a creaminess to the dairy free recipes, a great source of MCFAs, and is very tasty to boot!

Birthday girl choice (she hasn’t picked yet, but I am sure hot dogs, strawberries, and French fries with be on the menu).

Thursday: After school newspaper club/Caddy Girl Scout meeting

The Girl Scouts are making a dinner for their badge tonight, so hubby, son and little daughter are having sandwiches and salad night.

Friday: half-day of school for the kiddos

Baked Teriyaki Chicken, quinoa, salad

Saturday: Big girl dance lessons/Girl Scout Program Aide Training

Sunday: Big girl and mommy teach Sunday school

What is on everyone else’s plate this week:

First up is Wendy from Celiacs in the House. It’s Spring Break around their house this week. The GF egg rolls look amazing, as do the enchiladsa with green sauce, pizza night and grilled chicken. Sounds like great Spring Break food to me! Let us know how the GF wraps taste and work out, Wendy, please, pretty please??

Cheryl at Gluten Free Goodness loves to use young coconut for it’s water and the soft inner “meat” she blends into coconut milk. She is making a Chai breakfast cake to celebrate the theme (swoon!) which I hope she posts the recipe for (hint, hint). She has a tasty menu planned which includes, Quinoa Italians, Beef Curry (with coconut and cauliflower), Nightshade stew and Orange halibut.

Scrumptious at In My Box, has a great gluten free and vegan menu this week, including breakfast ideas (I have to try the Quinoa Breakfast Brownies!). She also has a recipe for a version of the Magical Loaf Studio recipe (you have to try the studio, I have never had a bad version from it. Super easy and yummy.) from the Vegan Lunch Box. Also on the menu this week are California Minestrone, Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie, Fennel and Kale Pasta and lots of yummy veggie sides (and lots of recipe links, too!). Her coconut is showing up in Coconut-Orange Macaroons and her Green Smoothie.

Heather at Celiac Family is not a big fan of shredded coconut, but is using coconut milk as a dairy replacement more often. She has used coconut milk in Chicken Tikka Masala and Chocolate Creme Brulee (both sound AMAZING to me! She has recipe links for those recipes on her post, too). On her menu is pupusas (I want to make those soon), salmon with balsamic glaze, and garlic shrimp pasta. Heather will be hosting the Gluten Free Menu Swap next week with the theme ingredient of eggs, so be sure to join in on the fun!

Thanks to everyone who joined in the swap. You guys are an inspiration!